3331 
H!>9 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


IN  MEMORY  OF 

PROFESSOR  WILLIAM  MERRILL 

AND 

MRS.  IMOGENE  MERRILL 


?f'3^i^OuZ: 


^  ^ 


I  i/'^  CCij^- i^^iU^Cy 


^^■tJV-^-j'''^) 


The  Quantitative 
Reading  of 
Latin  Verse 

Joseph  Henry  Howard,  A.  M. 


u/r 


SCOTT,  FORESMAN  AND 
COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS, 
378=388  WABASH  AVE- 
NUE, CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


'-'^'^^iM^^^^  ^yC^  OUitli/^ 


THE 

QUANTITATIVE  EEADING 


OF 


LATIN  VERSE 


THE 


QUANTITATIVE  READING 


LATIN  TERSE 


BY 


JOSEPH  HENEY  HOWARD,   A.    M. 

Assistant  Professor  of  Latin  in  the  Indiana  University 


CHICAGO 
SCOTT,  FORESMAN  AND   COMPANY 

1898 


Copyright,  1898,  by 
Scott,  Fobesman  &  Company 


GIFT 


ROOBSB  &   SMITH  CO.,  FRINTERS,  CHICAGO 


Hir 


PEEFAOE. 


THIS  little  book  has  been  written  in  the  belief  that  there 
exist  to-day  an  urgent  need  and  a  demand  for  some  more 
specific  and  more  satisfactory  information  to  guide  the  teachers 
and  pupils  of  secondary  schools  in  their  study  of  Latin  verse. 
It  is  the  author's  hope  that  this  need  will  be  found  to  have  been 
met,  in  part  at  least,  by  the  contents  of  the  following  pages. 
For  an  aroused  interest  in  this  subject  and  for  the  general 
theory  herein  presented,  he  is  indebted  to  Professor  William 
Gardner  Hale  of  the  University  of  Chicago.  Several  years' 
practical  application  of  this  theory,  while  teaching  classes  in  the 
Indiana  University,  has  served  to  strengthen  the  author's  belief 
in  its  correctness  and  its  absolute  feasibility. 

It  is  not  intended  that  this  shall  be  a  manual  on  prosody. 
The  aim  has  been  to  omit  everything  not  essential  to  the  prepa- 
ration for  reading  poetry.  Much,  therefore,  has  been  left  to  be 
added  by  the  teacher,  who  will,  of  course,  make  use  of  such 
helps  as  are  needed  for  that  purpose.  The  book  will  have  ful- 
filled its  mission  if  it  shall  have  pointed  out  the  road  to  be 
traveled. 

Professor  Hale  very  kindly  looked  over  the  manuscript  for 
the  following  pages  and  offered  many  valuable  suggestions. 


^; 


?Of;rr? 


THE  QUANTITATIVE  EEADING  OF 
LATIN  VERSE. 


IT  is  said  by  those  who  have  given  much  time  to  the  study  of 
Latin  poetry  and  the  laws  of  Latin  versification,  that  the 
Roman  poet  attached  not  less  importance  to  the  form  in  which 
his  thoughts  were  cast  than  to  the  thoughts  themselves,  that  he 
believed  it  to  be  just  as  necessary  for  the  dress  to  be  beautiful 
and  appropriate  as  for  the  language  it  clothed  to  be  polished 
and  select  It  is  known,  too,  that  great  care  in  the  choice  of 
vocabulary  was  made  necessary  by  the  limitations  imposed  by 
the  demands  of  the  verse-rhythm,  which  absolutely  precluded 
the  use  of  all  words  that  would  not  harmonize  quantitatively 
with  the  metrical  structure  of  the  verse,  and  that,  as  a  result  of 
this  dependence  of  the  language  on  the  form  and  the  consequent 
difficulty  of  selection,  higher  finish  and  greater  accuracy  were 
attained. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  it  is  evident  that  a  thorough  under- 
standing and  genuine  appreciation  of  the  work  of  the  Roman 
poets  can  never  be  the  possession  of  those  who  choose  to  ignore 
the  importance  of  the  form-side. 

It  is  worth  while  to  seek  to  have  this  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  poet's  work ;  the  time  and  labor  one  must  give  to  such  a 
study  are  profitably  employed. 

Great  pleasure  is  experienced  in  the  study  of  art,  and  much 
benefit  is  derived  from  it.  It  is  thought  to  be  highly  profitable 
to  acquaint  one's  self  with  even  the  most  minute  details  of  the 
works  of  the  master  sculptors  and  painters  and  architects. 
Such  knowledge  is  considered  an  important  part  of  a  broad 
and  finished  education.    It  should  not  be  called  a  waste  of 


8      THE  QUANTITATIVE  READING  OF  LATIN  VERSE. 

valuable  time  and  energy  to  apply  one's  self,  with  equal  zeal  and 
care,  to  the  study  of  these  other,  certainly  not  less  noble,  crea- 
tions of  art.  What,  in  truth,  are  they?  Masterpieces  from  one 
of  the  greatest  literatures  the  world  has  known,  embodiments 
of  the  thoughts  of  some  of  the  ablest  and  best  representatives 
of  a  people  whose  influence  has  scarcely  been  surpassed  by  that 
of  any  other  race. 

Preparation  for  the  true  interpretation  of  a  Latin  poem 
involves  some  labor,  just  as  does  the  preparation  for  any  work 
worth  doing  well.  Some,  not  caring  to  take  this  trouble,  choose 
to  treat  poetry  as  prose,  and  thus  not  only  fail  to  arrive  at  any 
just  appreciation  of  the  poet's  work  as  a  whole  (for  this  is  like 
standing  before  some  beautiful  building  and  selecting  for  inspec- 
tion the  various  parts  of  which  it  is  composed,  with  never  a 
glance  at  the  entire  structure  which  reveals  the  builder's  design 
and  the  harmony  of  material  and  form)  but  also  get,  for  their 
pains,  poorer  results  than  if  they  had  given  the  same  time  to  a 
piece  of  real  prose.  For  not  only  does  the  vocabulary  of  poetry, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  differ  much  from  that  of  prose,  but  it 
also  has  a  word-order  peculiarly  its  own.  Some  who  follow  the 
plan  of  studying  poetry  as  prose  have  their  pupils  read  it  aloud 
(or,  to  be  more  exact,  pronounce  it)  as  if  it  were  prose,  but  with 
utter  disregard  of  the  quantity  of  syllables,  a  factor  which  can 
not  be  overlooked  even  in  the  correct  reading  of  Latin  prose. 
Imagine  the  effect  of  pronouncing,  in  this  way,  some  finished 
English  poem  of  delicate  rhythm !  And  English  poetry  does 
not  depend  upon  quantity,  for  its  rhythm,  but  upon  stress- 
accent.  Others  do  better  who  omit  the  oral  reading  and  make 
merely  a  silent  interpretation  of  the  author's  thought,  rather 
than  be  guilty  of  so  manifest  a  violation  of  the  spirit  of  Latin 
poetry. 

Will  it  suffice,  then,  to  seek  to  apprehend,  so  far  as  possible, 
the  beauties  of  the  form  and  the  adaptation  of  form  to  language, 
as  one  makes  this  silent  search  for  the  meaning  of  the  words, 
and  wholly  dispense  with  the  oral  reading,  if,  as  asserted,  it  is 
folly  to  pronounce  merely,  and  the  reading  as  poetry  is  attended 


THE   QUANTITATIVE  BEADING  OF  LATIN  VERSE.  9 

with  more  or  less  difficulty?  With  just  as  much  reason  one  may 
hope  to  understand  a  song,  by  reading  the  words  without  know- 
ing the  melody,  or,  to  make  the  resemblance  more  nearly  exact, 
without  a  knowledge  of  melody.  Is  it,  therefore,  not  possible 
for  one  to  arrive  at  a  thorough  understanding  of  a  Latin  poem 
without  reading  it  orally  and  as  poetry?  Silent  interpretation 
is,  perhaps,  just  as  effective  and  affords  the  reader  as  great 
pleasure  as  oral  reading,  provided  that  the  music  of  the  verse  is 
as  vividly  present.  It  seems  that  there  can  be  no  question, 
though,  that  the  music  must  first  be  heard  actually,  in  so  far  as 
the  voice  can  reproduce  it,  before  it  can  be  real  to  the  silent 
reader.  Careful  practice  in  oral  reading,  continued  for  some 
time  by  one  who  has  previously  acquainted  himself  with  the 
essential  facts  of  Latin  versification,  is,  therefore,  indispensable 
to  perfect  silent  reading,  and  must  precede  it. 

What,  then,  does  one  need  to  know  before  he  is  ready  to  read 
Latin  poetry  intelligently?  First  of  all,  he  must  know  how  to 
pronounce  Latin  words  correctly.  No  one  can  do  this  who  is 
not  acquainted  with  the  sounds  of  the  letters,  the  quantities  of 
syllables  and  the  word-accent.  The  requirements  thus  far  seem 
severe,  perhaps.  They  are  not,  in  fact.  If  the  teacher  has  been 
properly  trained  and  has  conscientiously  performed  his  duty, 
pupils  will  come  to  the  study  of  Latin  poetry  with  the  greater 
part  of  the  necessary  preparation  already  made.  For  they  will 
have  been  taught,  from  the  very  first  day  of  their  work  in  prose 
Latin,  to  pronounce  Latin  words  correctly.  Prose  texts  with  all 
long  vowel-quantities  marked  are  now  available  and  should  be 
used.  For  those  who,  in  their  previous  study,  have  paid  no 
attention  to  the  quantities  of  vowels  and  syllables,  the  task  is 
not  so  easy.  But  they  can  afford  to  make  up  for  this  neglect, 
even  at  so  late  a  date  in  their  study.  Belated  learning  of  quan- 
tities, therefore,  is  to  be  strongly  recommended  in  such  cases. 
Indeed,  it  seems  that  one  ought  not  approach  the  study  of  Latin 
poetry  at  all,  if  he  is  not  willing  to  perform  this  necessary  pre- 
liminary labor.  Nothing  could  be  more  simple  than  the  law 
governing  the  placing  of  the  Latin  accent,  and  it  requires  no 
great  labor  to  become  acquainted  with  the  sounds  of  the  letters. 


10  THE  QUANTITATIVE  BEADING  OF  LATIN  VERSE. 

Besides  the  correct  pronunciation  of  Latin  words,  one  needs 
to  know  the  more  important  facts  of  Latin  versification.  At 
first,  one  need  not  know,  in  fact,  should  not  burden  his  memory 
with,  the  details  of  prosody.  These  should  be  learned  one  at  a 
time,  as  they  come  up  in  actual  reading.  Many  of  them  are 
met  but  seldom.  The  knowledge  of  the  essential  facts  pertain- 
ing to  Latin  verse-structure  in  general  should  be  supplemented 
by  an  acquaintance  with  the  features  which  are  peculiar  to  the 
kind  of  verse  to  be  taken  up  first,  and  the  learner  is  then  ready 
to  begin  reading. 

It  would  be  desirable  if,  at  this  point,  we  could  turn  at  once 
to  the  consideration  of  some  particular  kind  of  Latin  verse  and 
make  clear,  by  means  of  an  illustration,  just  what  any  one  start- 
ing out  to  read  Latin  poetry  is  to  do.  But  there  are  certain 
things  that  ought  to  be  said,  certain  erroneous  views  respecting 
the  reading  of  Latin  poetry  that  need  to  be  referred  to  and,  if 
possible,  shown  to  be  wrong,  before  we  can  feel  sure  that  the 
learner  will  be  in  position  to  distinguish  the  true  method,  when 
it  is  set  before  him,  from  the  false  one,  still  much  in  vogue.  To 
introduce  this  discussion,  let  us  take  up  first  Latin  word-accent. 

It  is  not  certainly  known  whether  the  Latin  word-accent  was 
one  of  pitch,  that  is,  a  musical  accent,  or  one  of  stress.  The 
probabilities,  however,  strongly  favor  the  belief  that  it  was  a 
stress-accent,  and  the  other  view  has  been  almost  entirely  given 
up  by  scholars.  It  is,  therefore,  assumed  in  this  discussion  that 
it  was  a  stress-accent.  When  the  syllables  of  the  Avords  in  a  lan- 
guage are  pronounced,  some  at  a  higher,  some  at  a  lower,  note 
that  language  is  said  to  have  pitch-accent,  or  musical-accent; 
when  they  are  uttered,  some  with  greater,  others  with  less  energy, 
the  language  is  said  to  have  stress-accent.  The  English  lan- 
guage, though  decidedly  one  of  stress-accent,  nevertheless  makes 
much  use  of  musical-accent.  One  can  easily  note  that,  in  pro- 
nouncing such  a  word  as  unconstitutio7ial,  as  an  isolated  word, 
successive  syllables  are  not  uttered  in  the  same  tone,  but  that 
the  range  is  from  highest  on  the  syllable  -fti  to  lowest  on  the 
syllable  -tion.    Perhaps  there  has  been  no  language  in  which 


THE   QUAls^TITATIYE   READIIh'G  OF  LATIN"  VERSE.  11 

both  accents  have  not  been  present.  But  we  speak,  of  course, 
of  that  one  which  is  predominant,  when  we  speak  of  the  accent. 
The  ancient  Greek  language  had  the  musical-accent.  Care 
should,  therefore,  be  taken  to  avoid  confusing  Greek  and  Latin 
word-accent.  With  the  additional  statement  that  the  stress- 
accent  of  Latin  words  was  not  so  strong  as  that  of  English 
words,  we  can  leave  this  topic. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  point  where  we  can  state  defi- 
nitely what  is  involved  in  the  correct  reading  of  Latin  poetry. 
One  reads  Latin  poetry  correctly  when  he  gives  to  each  word  its 
ordinary  pronunciation  (which,  be  sure  to  remember,  includes 
the  proper  placing  of  the  word-accent  and  the  preservation  of 
the  quantities  of  all  syllables)  and,  with  due  regard  for  natural 
pauses,  utters  the  successive  words  of  the  verse  connectedly 
in  such  wise  that  the  rhythm  of  the  verse  will  be  everywhere 
distinctly  maintained  as  an  undertone. 

The  method  generally  employed  differs  from  the  one  here 
proposed  in  one  important  particular.  This  leads  to  a  consid- 
eration of  this  older,  long-used  method  of  reading  Latin  poetry, 
believed  by  the  author  to  be  faulty.  This  subject  is  introduced 
here,  even  at  the  risk  of  confusing  the  reader,  only  because  it  is 
hoped  that,  by  making  clear  the  difference,  the  error  of  taking 
up  or  continuing  to  cling  to  the  old  plan  may  be  avoided. 

Briefly  stated,  then,  it  is  the  common  practice,  in  reading 
Latin  verse  metrically,  to  make  the  natural  word-accent  subor- 
dinate to  the  verse-beat  (which  the  Romans  called  ictios).  It  is 
unfortunate  that  any  special  mention  of  ictus  has  to  be  made  in 
this  book,  for  we  do  not  need  to  pay  particular  attention  to  a 
verse-beat,  do  not  need  to  make  a  conscious  effort,  at  least,  to 
place  the  verse-beat,  in  reading  Latin  poetry.  But  here  again  it 
seems  best  to  risk  causing  some  confusion  in  order  to  obviate  far 
greater  confusion.  The  reader  must  know,  then,  that  the  verse- 
beat,  the  ictus  (Latin  for  Uow,  heat),  is  thought  by  some  of 
those  who  champion  the  older  theory  to  be,  in  fact,  the  pitch- 
accent  (utterance  at  a  higher  note)  which  belongs  to  a  certain 
part  of  every  verse-foot,  but,  in  practice,  to  be  best  represented 


12  THE   QUANTITATIVE   EEADIN^G   OF   LATIN  VERSE. 

by  a  strong  stress-accent,  for  the  reason  that  we,  who  speak 
English,  can  not  reproduce  this  pitch-accent,  it  being  almost 
entirely  foreign  to  our  language. 

Now  the  ictus  belongs  usually,  though  not  always,  to  a  long 
syllable  of  the  verse-foot.  In  practice,  therefore,  it  would  be 
doubly  difficult  for  us  to  keep  in  mind  to  give  this  same  syllable 
pitch-accent  and  its  proper  time  (quantity),  too,  for  both  are 
almost  strangers  to  our  language,  the  latter  practically  unknown 
to  it.  So  it  is  thought  best,  in  their  opinion,  to  place  a  strong 
stress-accent  on  every  syllable  that  has  the  ictus  and  have  this 
stress  serve  as  a  substitute  for  the  Latin  musical  or  pitch-accent 
and  long  quantity.  Some  who  advocate  the  old  theory  believe 
that  the  Latin  ictus  is  really  a  voice  stress  but  make  the  mistake 
of  having  this  stress-accent  the  only  one  for  the  verse-foot. 
From  one  of  our  standard  Latin  Grammars  (Allen  &  Green- 
ough%  p.  406),  the  following,  given  under  the  caption.  The 
Musical  Accent,  is  quoted:  "That  part  of  the  measure  which 
receives  the  stress  of  voice  (the  musical-accent)  is  called  the 
Thesis.  The  stress  of  voice  laid  upon  the  Thesis  is  called  the 
ictus  (beat).'^  The  implied  meaning  is  that  no  other  syllable 
in  a  verse  measure  except  the  ictus  syllable  receives  a  stress- 
accent.  Placing  the  stress  on  that  syllable  alone,  though, 
necessitates  the  violent  change  of  the  natural  word-accent  from 
one  to  several  times  in  almost  every  verse  of  Latin  poetry.  A 
recent  view,  quite  at  variance  with  these  already  given,  is  pre- 
sented in  two.  lately  published  Latin  Grammars.  Bennett's 
Latin  Grammar  (p.  243,  foot-note)  makes  this  statement :  "  Ic- 
tus was  not  accent — neither  stress-accent  nor  musical-accent, — 
but  was  simply  the  quantitative  prominence  inherent  in  a  long 
syllable.'^  Mooneyes  Latin  Grammar  (p.  231)  says :  "Ictus  is 
the  prominence  given  the  long  syllable  in  every  foot/'  But 
clearly  this  can  not  be  correct,  for  some  verse-feet  have  more 
than  one  long  syllable,  and  some  have  not  even  one.  The  ictus 
must  therefore  fall  on  a  syllable  short  in  quantity  in  some  verse- 
feet. 

Those  who  feel  moved  to  take  exceptions  to  all  this  hold  to 


THE  QUAI^TITATIVE   EEADIKG   OF  LATIN  TERSE.  13 

the  belief  that  the  ictus  is  neither  pitch-accent,  nor  strong  stress 
nor  quantitative  prominence.  In  their  opinion,  it  is  a  stress, 
but  a  stress  not  so  strong  as  that  of  the  normal  word-accent, 
and  therefore  not  destructive  of  but  subordinate  to  the  word- 
accent.  It  is  the  pulse-beat  of  the  verse,  which  is  rather  a  swell 
than  a  staccato  accent. 

The  fact  has  been  noted  that  ictus  usually  belongs  to  a  long 
syllable.  It  is  easy  to  see  how,  in  reading,  the  proper  giving  of 
ictus,  which  is  a  gradual  increase  in  volume  and  intensity  of 
sound  rather  than  staccato  stress,  is  greatly  favored  by  this 
quantity  length. 

The  statement  was  made  that,  in  reading  Latin  verse  met- 
rically, it  is  the  common  practice  to  make  the  natural  word- 
accent  subordinate  to  the  verse-beat  (ictus).  This  subordination 
is  strong  enough  (so  the  advocates  of  the  theory  claim)  to  cause 
the  word-accent  to  be  thrown  out  of  its  usual  place  whenever  it 
conflicts  with  the  metrical  ictus,  that  is,  whenever  the  word- 
accent  naturally  falls  on  some  other  syllable  in  the  verse-meas- 
ure than  the  one  having  the  ictus.  The  stress-accent  in  every 
such  case  of  conflict  has  to  be  transferred,  they  think,  to  the 
syllable  having  the  ictus,  or,  if  one  choose  to  put  it  so,  all  other 
stress-accents  must  disappear  before  the  one  on  the  ictus-syllable. 
The  result  is  that,  in  almost  every  verse  oi  Latin  poetry,  one  or 
more  (oftener  more)  words  have  their  stress-accent  placed  on  a 
syllable  which  does  not  normally  have  it.  This  seems  unnatural 
and  unwarranted.  In  truth,  no  parallel  to  such  a  practice  can 
be  found  in  any  known  language.  Such  license  is  allowed  in 
poetry  occasionally.  We  see  it  in  our  own,  sometimes.  But 
nowhere  can  one  find  support  for  such  radical  changes  as  are 
demanded  by  this  older  method.  Now  the  explanation  is  that 
the  practice  rests  entirely  on  the  untenable  hypothesis  that  Latin 
accent  was  one  of  musical-pitch  and  not  one  of  stress,  and  that 
the  best  method  of  representing  this  pitch-accent  is  to  stress  the 
ictus-syllable  heavily,  thereby  not  merely  obscuring  the  natural 
stress-accent  in  many  words,  but  entirely  removing  it.*    In 

♦See  Professor  Hale's  discussion  of  "Did  verse-ictus  destroy  word -accent  in 
Latin  poetry  ? "  (Ginn  &  Co.) 


14         THE  qua:n'titative  reading  of  latin  yerse. 

what,  then,  does  the  music  of  Latin  verse  consist  ?  On  what 
does  it  depend  ?  Does  it  depend  on  the  word-accent  ?  Cer- 
tainly not,  for  the  word-accent  for  poetry  is  precisely  the  same 
as  that  for  prose.  *  Is  it  due  to  the  vocabulary,  to  the  character 
of  the  words  so  carefully  chosen  by  the  poet  ?  Unquestionably 
this  is  an  important  factor  in  it,  but  not  the  all-important  one. 
Shall  we  say  it  is  quantity  ?  We  are  near  the  truth.  The 
rhythm  that  results  from  giving  to  every  syllable  in  a  Latin 
verse  its  exact  time  (quantity)  as  we  read,  and  from  placing 
properly  the  regularly  recurring  ictus-stress  constitutes  the  chief 
element  of  the  music.  The  placing  of  the  ictus-stress  requires, 
however,  no  conscious  effort  after  the  reader  is  once  familiar 
with  the  metrical  structure  of  the  verse  to  be  read.  So  soon  as 
one  comes  to  feel  the  rhythm,  the  ictus  will  place  itself.  Now 
some  claim  that  this  verse-rhythm  is  greatly  marred  if  one  pro- 
nounces each  word  precisely  as  it  is  correctly  pronounced  when 
standing  in  a  prose  sentence,  for  the  reason  that  the  word- 
accent,  in  almost  every  verse  of  Latin  poetry,  as  before  stated, 
is  thus  made  to  conflict,  in  one  or  more  verse-measures,  with  the 
ictus.  From  this  opinion  the  author  strongly  dissents,  and 
holds  that,  on  the  contrary,  additional  charm  is  given  the  verse 
by  virtue  of  this  very  conflict,  that  serves  to  break  the  monot- 
ony which  would  otherwise  result.  This  monotony  must  have 
been  scrupulously  avoided  by  the  poets  themselves,  for  we  find 
very  few  verses  in  all  Latin  poetry  in  which  the  word-accent 
falls,  in  every  verse-measure,  on  the  syllable  that  has  the  ictus. 
Three  such  verses,  written  in  the  same  meter  as  that  of  the 
Aeneid  of  Vergil,  are  here  given : 

Eor.  Epist.  I,  9,  4— 
Dignum  |  mente  dojmoque  lelgentis  ho|nesta  Nelronis. 

Eor.  Epist.  I,  14,  30— 
Multa  I  mole  do|cendus  a|prico  |  parcere  |  prato. 

Ennius — 

Sparsis  |  hastis  |  longis  |  campus  |  splendet  et  I  horret. 


THE  QUANTITATIVE  BEADING  OF  LATIN  VEKSE.  15 

Each  of  these  verses  has  six  feet.  The  vertical  line  has  been 
used  to  separate  these  feet  so  that  the  reader  can  distinguish 
them  at  a  glance.  A  dot  is  placed  beneath  each  syllable  having 
the  ictus  (which,  in  this  kind  of  verse,  is  always  the  first  in  the 
verse-foot).  The  syllable  having  the  word-accent  is  given  in 
heavy  type.*  Now  read  these  verses  and  imagine  the  effect  of 
page  after  page  read  in  the  same  monotonous,  sing-song  fashion. 
It  is  precisely  this  effect  that  is  produced  by  forcing  the  word- 
accent  to  fall,  in  every  measure,  on  the  syllable  having  the  ictus. 
To  make  this  clear,  let  us  take  verses  8  to  11  inclusive  from  the 
first  book  of  the  Aeneid  : 

Musa  mijhi  cau|sas  memo|ra  quo  |  numine  |  laeso, 
duidve  do|lens  re|gina  delum  tot  |  volvere  |  casus 
Insig|nem  pie|tate  vi|rum  tot  ad|ire  la|bores 
Impule|rit.      Tanjtaene  ani|mjs  cae|lestibus  |  irae  ? 

Read  first  without  paying  any  attention  to  the  heavy  type, 
and  give  stress-accent  to  the  syllables  under  which  the  dots  are 
placed,  that  is,  to  those  syllables  only  which  have  the  ictus. 
What  is  the  result  ?  We  get  a  good  idea  of  what  the  sing-song 
style  is,  a  taste  of  what  it  would  be,  if  continued  through  many 
verses,  and  we  have,  besides,  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  in 
four  verses  of  poetry,  we  have  had  the  audacity  to  do  what  no 
Eoman  would  have  dared  to  do, — place  the  word-accent  nine 
times  on  syllables  that  should  not  have  had  it.  Look  at  the 
verses  again,  this  time  noting  what  syllables  are  in  heavy  type 
(for  they  have  the  normal  word-accent).  The  reader  will  see,  at 
a  glance,  that,  in  the  first  verse,  the  words  mihi,  causae  and 
memora  all  happen  to  have  final  syllables  which  have  ictus,  and 
that  the  natural  word-accent  falls,  in  all  three,  on  the  first 
syllable.  How  ridiculous,  then,  to  stress  heavily  these  final  syl- 
lables and  give  no  stress  at  all  to  the  syllables  having  the 
word-accent  naturally ! 

*  The  dot  and  the  heavy  type  will  be  employed  throughout  the  remainder  of  the 
book  in  this  way. 


16  THE  QUANTITATIVE  KEADI2?^G  OF  LATIN  TERSE. 

We  can  now  turn  from  this  negative  side  of  the  subject  to 
the  positive  side.  But  before  taking  up  extracts  from  Latin 
poems  representing  different  meters,  with  a  view  to  explaining 
what  the  author  thinks  one  should  do  in  reading  verse  quanti- 
tatively, it  will  be  necessary  to  define  certain  terms  with  which 
the  learner  may  not  be  familiar.  A  few  of  these  terms,  such  as 
verse-foot,  quantity,  were  unavoidably  used  in  the  preceding 
pages.* 

QUANTITY. 

Let  us  first  speak  of  quantity.  Quantity  is  the  time  required 
for  utterance.  We  speak  of  the  quantity  of  a  Latin  consonant, 
quantity  of  a  vowel,  quantity  of  a  syllable.  Certain  Latin  vowels 
require  twice  as  much  time  as  some  others,  certain  syllables  re- 
quire twice  the  time  needed  by  certain  others.  We  speak,  there- 
fore, of  long  quantity  and  short  quantity.  Latin  verse  demands 
that  there  shall  be  such  a  choice  and  arrangement  of  words  as 
will  result  in  a  fixed  succession  of  long  and  short  syllables,  f  To 
indicate  long  and  short  quantity,  we  employ  the  marks  -  and  u 
respectively.  J 

VEESE-FOOT. 

A  verse-foot  (called  also  verse-measure)  is  the  verse's  unit  of 
measure.  This  unit  repeated  a  number  of  times  makes  up  the 
verse.  For  instance,  the  unit  in  every  verse  of  poetry  written 
in  the  meter  in  which  VergiFs  Aeneid  is  written  is  made  up  of 
one  long  syllable  followed  by  two  short  ones.  Such  a  unit  (i.  e. 
foot)  is  indicated  thus  :  _  u  o.  For  the  verse-unit  the  poet  may 
(and  often  does)  substitute  an  equivalent. 

The  scheme  for  the  whole  of  the  first  verse  of  the  Aeneid  is  : 


_UO        _OC/ —  uo 


Observe  that  two  long  syllables,  instead  of  one  long  and  two 
short  ones,  are  found  in  the  third,  fourth  and  sixth  feet  of  this 

*  It  will  be  found  advantageous  for  the  beginner  in  Latin  poetry  to  go  back  and 
re-read  the  first  part  of  the  book  in  the  light  of  the  information  gotten  from  the  pages 
following. 

tOur  language  knows  practically  nothing  about  long  and  short  syllables,  long  and 
short  vowels. 

Inconsonant  quantity  and  vowel  quantity  are  treated  further  on. 


THE  QUAKTITATIVE  KEADING  OF  LATIN  VERSE.  17 

verse.    In  all  verse  written  in  this  meter  the  first  syllable  of 
every  foot  has  the  ictus. 

For  a  second  illustration,  let  us  take  the  first  verse  of  Hor- 
ace's second  Epode : 

Bea|tus  il|le  qui  |  procul  |  nego|tii8. 

In  verse  of  this  kind  the  unit  consists  of  one  short  syllable 
followed  by  one  long  one,  and  is  indicated  thus :  u  -.  The 
scheme  of  the  whole  verse  is : 

u_|    o-    I    v-l    w-l    o-l    u- 

Here  the  last  syllable  in  every  verse-measure  has  the  ictus, 
but  not  strong  stress-accent,  unless  it  happens  that  the  regular 
word-accent  falls  on  that  syllable.  A  glance  at  the  verse  above 
shows  that  the  word-accent  does  fall  on  the  last  syllable  in  three 
of  the  six  measures.  But  in  the  third  and  last  measures  there  is 
no  word-accent  on  any  syllable.  There  are  many  other  kinds 
of  verse-feet  employed  by  Eoman  poets.  Some  of  these  are  con- 
sidered on  a  later  page. 

SCANSION. 

Scansion  is  the  name  given  to  the  process  of  dividing  a  verse 
into  verse-feet.  We  scan  a  verse  of  poetry  when  we  pronounce 
the  syllables  it  contains  in  such  a  way  as  to  indicate  the  verse- 
feet,  thus : 

Arma  vi — rumque  ca — no  Tro — iae  qui — primus  ab — oris. 

Very  little  of  this  scanning  need  be  done  by  the  beginner. 
For  one  to  continue  it  long  would  not  only  be  sheer  waste  of 
time,  but  a  positive  detriment.  The  practice  destroys  one's 
power  to  see  and  appreciate  the  rhythm,  for  it  leads  him  to 
form  the  habit  of  looking  always  for  the  verse-units  as  separate 
groups,  and  this  results  in  the  utter  confusion,  if  not  virtual 
destruction,  of  the  individual  words.     Do  not  scan,  but  read. 

LAW  OF  LATIN  ACCENT. 

The  law  governing  the  placing  of  the  stress-accent  in  Latin 


18  THE  QUANTITATIVE  EEADING  OF  LATIN  VERSE. 

words  is  so  simple  that  it  needs  only  to  be  stated  to  be  under- 
stood. It  is  this :  The  stress-accent  falls  on  the  syllable  next 
the  last  if  it  (^.  e.  the  syllable  next  the  last)  has  long  quantity, 
otherwise  on  the  syllable  next  to  the  left.  That  is  all  there  is 
of  it.  A  few  illustrations  will  make  this  doubly  clear.  The 
word  amahiUs  has  the  stress-accent  on  the  syllable  -ma-,  because 
the  syllable  -hi-  is  short.  The  verb-form  amahamus  has  the 
accent  on  the  syllable  -ha-,  because  that  syllable  is  long.  Of 
course,  in  the  case  of  words  of  two  syllables,  there  is  no  question 
— the  accent  falls  always  on  the  initial  syllable.  A  few  apparent 
exceptions  to  this  law  are  found  in  those  words  that  have  lost  a 
former  final  syllable,  We  stress  the  final  syllable  of  istic,  istitc, 
illic,  illuc.  These  words  once  ended  in  e  and  were  accented  on 
the  syllable  next  the  last.  The  e  was  dropped,  the  accent  re- 
mained as  before. 

CAESURA. 

Caesura  (Latin  for  a  cutting)  is  the  name  given  a  natural 
pause  made  in  the  course  of  the  verse.  Many  verses  have  two, 
many  only  one.  It  is  not  necessary,  however,  that  a  verse  have 
even  one.  The  beauty  and  finish  of  a  poem  is  much  affected, 
and  the  likill  of  the  poet  shown,  by  the  number  and  the  placing 
of  these  pauses.  A  poem  soon  grows  dull  and  monotonous  in 
which  the  pauses  are  regularly  put  in  the  same  places  in  succes- 
sive verses. 

The  following  passage  is  quoted  from  the  Aeneid  for  the  pur- 
pose of  pointing  out  the  instances  of  caesura.  The  position  of 
each  caesura  is  indicated  by  parallel  vertical  lines : 

Aen.  Ij,  vv.  223-253— 

Et  iam  finis  erat,||  cum  luppiter  aethere  summo 
Despiciens  mare  velivolum||  terrasque  iacentis 
220    Litoraque  et  latos  populos,  ||  sic  vertice  caeli 
Constitit,  II  et  Libyae  defixit  lumina  regnis. 
At  que  ilium  talis  iactantem  pectore  curas 
Tristior  et  lacrimis  oculos  suffusa  nitentis 
Adloquitur  Venus :  ||  '  0  qui  res  hominumque  deumque 


THE   QUANTITATIVE   READING   OF   LATIN  VERSE.  19 

230    Aeternis  regis  imperils,  ||  et  f ulmine  terres. 
Quid  mens  Aeneas  ||  in  te  committere  tantum. 
Quid  Troes  potuere,  ||  quibus,  tot  f unera  passis, 
Cunctus  ob  Italiam||  terrarum  clauditur  orbis? 
Certe  hinc  Romanes  olim,  ||  volventibus  annis, 

235    Hinc  fore  ductores,  ||  revocato  a  sanguine  Teucri, 
Qui  mare,  qui  terras]  omni  dicione  tenerent, 
Pollicitus :  II  quae  te,  genitor,||  sententia  vertit? 
Hoc  equidem  occasum  Troiae||  tristisque  ruinas 
Solabar,  ||  f atis  contraria  fata  rependens ; 

240    Nunc  eadem  fortuna  viros||  tot  casibus  actos 

Insequitur.||     Quem  das  finem,||  rex  magne,  laborum? 
Antenor  potuit,  ||  mediis  elapsus  Achivis, 
Illyricos  penetrare  sinus,  ||  atque  intima  tutus 
Regna  Liburnorum,  et||  fontem  superare  Timavi, 

245    Unde  per  ora  novem||  vasto  cum  murmure  montis 
It  mare  proruptum  et|  pelago  premit  arva  sonanti. 
Hie  tamen  ille  urbem  Patavi||  sedesque  locavit 
Teucrorum,  et||  genti  nomen  dedit,||  armaque  fixit 
Troia ;  ||  nunc  placida  compostus  pace  quiescit : 

250    Nos,  tua  progenies,  ||  caeli  quibus  adnuis  arcem, 
Navibus  (infandum  !)  amissis,||  unius  ob  iram 
Prodimur  atque  Italis  longe  disiungimur  oris. 
Hie  pietatis  honos?  |  Sic  nos  in  sceptra  reponis?^ 

It  will  be  seen,  on  examination  of  this  passage,  that  the 
caesura  occurs  after  the  first  long  syllable  in  the  third  foot  of 
verses  1,  9,  11,  13,  14,  20,  22,  23,  24,  28  and  31 ;  after  the  first 
long  syllable  in  the  fourth  foot  in  verses  2,  3,  8,  12,  16,  18,  19, 
21,  25  and  29 ;  at  the  end  of  the  first  verse-foot  in  verses  4  and 
27 ;  at  the  end  of  the  second  verse-foot  in  verse  7;  at  the  end  of 
the  fourth  verse-foot  in  verse  26;  after  the  first  long  syllable  in 
the  second  foot  in  verses  15,  17  and  19.  The  two  caesuras  most 
frequent  in  dactylic  hexameter  verse  are  those  after  the  first 
long  syllable  in  the  third  and  fourth  verse-feet. 


20  THE   QUANTITATIVE   EEADIKG  OF  LATIN  VERSE. 

VOWEL-QUANTITY  DISTINGUISHED  FROM  SYLLABLE-QUANTITY. 

It  is  of  vital  importance  that  the  learner  understand  the 
difference  between  syllable-length  and  vowel-length.  Every 
syllable  containing  a  long  vowel  is  long,  but  a  syllable  may  be 
long  without  having  a  long  vowel.  Many  syllables  containing 
short  vowels  are  long.  How  can  one  know  when  a  syllable  con- 
taining a  short  vowel  is  long?  The  rule  to  be  followed  is  simple: 
A  syllable  containing  a  short  vowel  followed  by  a  consonant 
which  is  obstructed  in  pronunciation  by  a  following  consonant  is 
long  in  quantity.* 

The  explanation  is  this :  An  obstructed  consonant  requires 
the  time  of  a  short  vowel — that  is  its  quantity.  The  short  vowel 
and  obstructed  consonant  together  require  the  time  of  a  long 
vowel.  One  of  these  two  consonants  may  be  the  initial  letter  of 
a  following  word,  but  both  may  not  be  in  the  following  word.  In 
the  first  word  of  Ille  re\git  dic\tis  ani\mos  (part  of  Aen.  I,  153), 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  syllable  II-  is  long,  even  though  the 
vowel  is  short,  because  the  first  I  is  obstructed.  The  syllable  -git 
is  long  because  the  short  vowel  i  is  followed  by  the  consonant  t 
obstructed  by  d,  initial  consonant  of  the  following  word.  A 
syllable  containing  a  long  vowel  followed  by  an  obstructed  con- 
sonant is  doubly  long,  but,  in  reading  poetry,  is  compressed  a 
little.    Let  us  illustrate. 

Aen.  I,  53— 

Luctan|tes  ven|tos  tem|pesta|tesque  so|noras. 

The  first  syllable  of  the  first  word,  luc-,  is  doubly  long.  The 
vowel  is  long  by  nature  and  it  is  also  followed  by  an  obstructed 
consonant.  The  same  is  true  of  -tes,  -tos  and  -tes  in  the  first, 
second  and  third  words.  The  syllables  -ta-  and  -no-  in  the  third 
and  fourth  words  are  long  because  the  vowels  in  the  two 
syllables  are  naturally  long.  Additional  examples  of  syllables 
long  in  quantity,  even  though  their  vowels  are  short,  are  -tan-, 
ven-,  tern-,  -pes-. 

*The  expression,  "consonant  obstructed  In  pronunciation,"  is  Mr.  Hale's.  See 
his  entire  discussion,  "  Syllabification  in  Roman  Speech." 


THE  QUANTITATIVE  READING  OF  LATIN  VERSE.  21 

There  is  one  kind  of  consonant  combination  in  which  the 
first  consonant  is  not  obstructed  by  the  following  one,  viz.: 
mute  followed  by  liquid,  as  tr,  ply  pr,  cl,  hr,  etc.  In  every  such 
case,  the  syllable  containing  the  mute  may  be  either  long  or 
short,  as  the  poet  pleases.* 

In  Aen.  II,  663,  Vergil  treats  the  first  syllable  of  pair  is  as  a 
short  syllable  and  the  first  syllable  of  pair  em  as  long,  dividing 
.  first  pa-tris,  then  pat -rem. 

Natum  ante  |  ora  pa|tris,  pat(rem  qui  ob|truncat  ad  |  aras. 

This  is  not  due  to  mere  whim.  The  explanation  is  that  the 
sounds  of  mute  and  liquid  glide  together  so  readily  that  they  are 
ordinarily  given  in  the  time  of  one  consonant.  Yet  it  is  pos- 
sible, if  it  suits  the  poet^s  convenience,  to  pronounce  the  mute 
with  the  preceding  vowel  as  if  it  were  obstructed. 

VOWELS  LONG  BY  NATURE. 

We  call  those  vowels  long  by  nature  (sometimes  we  say  by 
authority  of  the  poets)  which  we  find  used  in  poetry  in  positions 
where  only  long  vowels  can  stand.  In  the  verse  quoted  just 
above  (Aen.  II,  663)  the  o  of  ora  and  the  a  of  aras  are  instances 
of  such  vowels.  The  best  Latin  Dictionaries  have  these  natu- 
rally long  vowels  all  marked  by  means  of  a  horizontal  mark 
placed  just  over  them,  thus:  dla,  Ira,  mdturus,  sacerdos.  Vow- 
els not  marked  are  short. 

OBSTRUCTED    CONSONANTS. 

When  a  consonant  is  obstructed  in  pronunciation  by  another 
consonant,  it  must  be  given  the  time  of  a  short  vowel.  Unless 
every  such  consonant  is  given  its  proper  time,  the  rhythm  of  the 
verse  can  not  be  maintained.  Do  not  pronounce  cella  as  if  cela 
but  cel-la,  only  there  must  not  be  a  break  between  the  two  syl- 
lables. Pronounce  propter  as  prop-ter,  not  as  if  pt  were  but  a 
single  consonant.  If  a  word  ending  in  a  consonant  is  followed 
by  one  beginning  with   a  consonant    (as  in   occurrit    tellus, 

♦For  many  instances  of  this  varying  quantity  before  mutes  and  liquids  in  the 
works  01  Vergil,  see  Johnston's  "  The  Metrical  Licenses  of  Vergil,"  §§  17-19. 


22  THE  QUANTITATIVE  READING  OF  LATIN  VERSE. 

Aen.  V,  9),  the  final  consonant,  because  obstructed,  must  have 
the  time  of  a  short  vowel.  Of  course,  in  reading,  one  should 
not  make  a  complete  break  between  syllables,  even  in  such  a 
word  2^^  propter,  where  there  is  a  change  made  in  the  position  of 
the  vocal  organs  in  passing  from  p  to  t.  In  words  like  cella, 
occurrit,  tellus,  and  between  words  in  such  groups  as  occurrit 
tellies,  where  the  same  sound  is  repeated,  a  break  would  be  even 
more  unnatural  and  more  difficult  to  make.  The  vocal  organs 
are  merely  held  in  the  same  position  and  a  new  voice-impulse 
serves  to  mark  the  beginning  of  the  next  syllable.  Perhaps  a 
better  graphical  representation  than  cel-la,  etc.,  would  be  ceTla, 
oc  cur  rit  tel  lus.  This  is  quite  important,  and  yet  likely  to  be 
disregarded,  because  it  is  entirely  alien  to  our  language.  Con- 
sonants that  are  not  obstructed  do  not  take  appreciable  addi- 
tional time.  So  I  in  alia  has  practically  no  quantity.  The 
contact  of  tongue  and  palate  in  passing  from  a  to  i  is  but 
momentary.  But  I  in  alter  has  quantity  that  must  be  taken 
into  account. 

SLURRING. 

Whenever  a  word,  in  a  verse  of  poetry,  ends  in  a  vowel,  a 
diphthong,  or  m  preceded  by  a  vowel  and  this  word  is  followed  by 
one  beginning  with  a  vowel,  a  diphthong  or  h,  the  final  and 
initial  syllables  are  slurred,  blended  together,  pronounced  as 
one  syllable  and  in  the  time  of  one  syllable.  The  quantity  of 
the  new  syllable  will  be  the  same  as  that  of  the  initial  syllable 
of  the  second  word.  Let  us  take  some  verses  of  the  Aeneid  for 
illustration  :  [Quotations  have  thus  far  been  almost  exclusively 
from  the  Aeneid.  The  explanation  is  this:  The  Aeneid  is  the 
poem  usually  taken  up  first  in  our  schools,  and,  besides,  the 
meter,  in  which  it  is  written,  is  one  of  the  simplest  and  most 
easily  understood.  In  this  instance,  a  passage  from  any  other 
poem  would  have  served  as  well.] 

Aen.  II,  1 —  

Oonticuere  omnes,  intentique  ora  tenebant. 
Aen.  II,  12— 

Quamquam  animus  meminisse  horret,   luctuque  refugit. 


THE  QUANTITATIVE   READING  OF  LATIN  VERSE.  23 

In  each  verse  here  given,  all  the  letters  covered  by  the  hori- 
zontal line  are  to  be  run  together,  in  reading,  into  one  syllable. 
The  quantity  of  the  new  syllable  reom-  will  be  long  because  om- 
is  long ;  queo-  will  be  long  because  o-  is  long ;  quama-  will  be 
short  because  a-  is  short;  sehor-  will  be  long  because  hor-  is 
long.  What  is  actually  pronounced  for  quam+a  and  se-i-hor  may 
be  more  accurately  represented  by  qua  and  seor.  The  explana- 
tion is  that  the  A-sound  drops  out  entirely  (as  it  always  has  a 
tendency  to  do  when  between  vowels)  and  the  w-sound  prac- 
tically disappears  when  followed  by  a  vowel,  diphthong  or  h 
plus  vowel  or  diphthong.* 

Perhaps  the  most  important  thing  to  remember  in  this  con- 
nection is  this,  that  the  new  syllable  resulting  from  the  slurring 
is  to  be  so  pronounced  that  the  quality  (not  the  quantity)  of  the 
vowel  of  the  final  syllable  shall  be  preserved.  For  instance,  in 
the  verses  just  quoted,  pronounce  re+om  as  reom,  not  as  rom, 
que-\-o  as  queo,  not  as  quo,  se-\-hor  as  seor,  not  sor.  Some  slurs 
are  very  difficult  to  make.     Take,  for  example,  these  : 

Aen.  Ill,  296—    

Coniugio  Aeacidae  Pyrrhi  sceptrisque  potitum. 

Aen.  Ill,  225—   

At  subitae  horrifico  lapsu  de  montibus  adsunt. 

Aen.  I,  322—  

Vidistis  si  quam  hie  errantem  forte  sororum. 

When  more  than  two  occur  in  the  same  verse,  the  reading  is 
difficult.     Very  unusual  is  such  a  verse  as  this : 

Catullus,  22,  4 — 

Puto  esse  ego  illi  milia  aut  decem  aut  plura. 

The  judicious  use  of  slurring,  made  by  a  poet  of  taste  and 
skill,  adds  much  to  the  beauty  of  a  Latin  poem. 

HIATUS. 

Hiatus  (Latin  for  cleft,  opening)  violates  the  law  for  slurring. 
An  instance  of  this  is  seen  between  Samo  and  Mc  in 


*  For  the  facts  concerning  the  weak  force  of  m,  consult  some  authoritative  treat- 
ment of  the  sounds  of  the  Latin  letters.  The  most  satisfactory  is  that  published  in 
the  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Ten,  p.  6. 


24  THE  QUANTITATIVE  HEADING  OF  LATIN  VERSE. 

Aen.  I,  16— 

Posthabi|ta  colujisse  Sa|mo ;  hie  |  illius  |  arma. 

The  final  syllable  of  Samo  and  the  monosyllable  hie  do  not 
slur.     The  reasons  can  be  learned  from  the  grammars.* 

RULES  OF  QUANTITY. 

Only  those  rules  of  quantity  thought  indispensable  to  the 
beginner  are  given  here.  Others  will  have  to  be  gotten  from 
the  grammars.  But  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  attempt  to  learn 
these  rules  faster  than  they  are  needed  in  actual  reading  of 
poetry.  All  exceptions  are  omitted.  By  far  the  best  plan  is  for 
the  teacher  to  supply  additional  information  to  pupils  respecting 
the  rules  for  quantity  and  the  exceptions,  taking  care  always  to 
avoid  crowding  this  upon  them  too  rapidly.  One  new  rule  at  a 
time  is  enough.  Do  not  refer  beginners  to  the  mass  of  details 
in  the  grammars  for  their  information.  This  serves  only  to 
confuse  them. 

A  vowel  is  regularly  short  before  another  vowel  or  h. 

Every  diphthong  is  long. 

Before  7is  and  nf,  a  vowel  is  always  long. 

Before  nd  and  7it,  a  vowel  is  regularly  short. 

Final  -as,  -es,  -os,  -is,  in  plural  cases  are  long. 

Final  -us  of  the  4th  decl.  is  short  in  the  nom.  sg.,  long  in 
the  other  cases  in  which  it  is  found. 

Final  a  1st  decl.  abl.,  and  final  e  5th  decl.  abl.  are  long. 

Final  e  of  most  adverbs  made  from  adjectives  of  the  2nd  decl. 
is  long. 

Final  i  is  long.  In  mihi,  uU,  ibi,  sihi  and  tibi,  it  is  long  or 
short,  as  the  poet  pleases. 

Final  o  of  the  dat.  and  abl.  sg.  is  long. 

A  syllable  whose  vowel  is  followed  by  a  consonant,  obstructed 
in  pronunciation  by  a  following  consonant,  is  long. 

All  particles  attached  to  the  ends  of  words  are  short,  as,  -que, 
-ve,  -ne, 

*A11  the  instances  of  hiatus  found  in  Vergil's  poems  are  given  in  Johnston's 
"The  Metrical  Licenses  of  Vergil,"  gg  23-27. 


THE  QUANTITATIVE   BEADING   OF  LATIN  VERSE.  25 

We  are  now  ready  to  make  application  of  what  has  thus  far 
been  said  and  to  say  what  remains  to  be  told  to  make  the  exposi- 
tion complete.  For  the  reasons  already  given  on  p.  16,  the  verse 
in  which  the  Aeneid  is  written  will  be  considered  first. 

The  verse  in  which  Vergil  wrote  is  called^  Dactylic  Hexameter. 
The  word  hexameter  represents  the  two  Greek  words  meaning 
six  and  measure.  A  hexameter  verse  contains  six  measures  (or 
feet).  A  dactyl  is  a  measure  having  a  long  syllable  followed  by 
two  short  ones.     It  is  indicated  thus  :«*/«. 

In  Dactylic  Hexameter  verse,  each  measure  is  regulai:ly  a 

dactyl  or  its  equivalent.     A  spondee  (two  long  syllables, )  is 

an  equivalent  and  maybe  used  in  any  measure.  In  fact,  how- 
ever, it  is  very  rarely  used  in  the  fifth.  That  is  regularly  a 
dactyl.*  A  trochee  (a  long  and  a  short,  .  J)  is  very  often  used 
in  the  last  foot,  never  in  any  other.  It  is  not  really  an  equiva- 
lent, but  is  treated  as  one.  The  last  foot  is  never  a  dactyl,  but 
either  spondee  or  trochee.  .... 

Let  us  select  for  our  purpose  Aen.  I,  1  to  8  : 

Arma  vi|ruinque  ca|no,   Tro|iae  qui  |,  primus  ab|oris 
Itali|am  fa|to  profu|gus  La|viniaque  [  vehit 


Litora  |  mUltum  il|le  et  ter|ris  iac|tatus  et  |  alto 
Vi  supe|rum  sae|vae  niemo|rem  Iu|nonis  ob|iram; 


Multa  quolque  et  bel|lo  pas|sus,  dum  |  conderet  |  urbem, 
Infer|retque  de|os  Lati|o  genus  |  unde  Lajtinum 
Alba]nique  pajtres,  at|que  ^altae  |  moenia  |  Romae. 

The  reader  will  note  that,  in  this  kind  of  verse,  the  normal 
word-accent  in  the  last  two  measures  of  every  verse,  regularly 
falls  on  the  first  syllable  of  the  measure,  the  syllable  which  has 
the  ictus.  An  examination  of  the  first  third  of  successive 
verses  will  show  that  there,  also,  the  two  often  coincide.     In  the 

*  Johnston's  "The  Metrical  Licenses  of  Vergil,"  §§21,  22,  giv&s  thirty-two  in- 
stances of  spondee  in  the  fifth  fpot  in  the  poems  of  Vergil. 


26  THE  QUANTITATIVE  READING  OF  LATIN  VERSE. 

middle  of  the  verse  there  is  more  often  conflict.  The  effect  of 
this  return  to  a  smooth  rhythm  toward  the  close  of  each  verse, 
after  the  roughness  caused  by  the  conflict  in  the  middle  of  the 
verse,  is  exceedingly  agreeable,  and  may  be  likened  to  the 
pleasurable  sensation  produced  by  the  return  to  harmony,  in 
instrumental  or  vocal  music,  after  an  intentional  discord. 

Since  the  verse-unit  here  is  a  dactyl,  the  first  syllable  in  each 
measure  has  the  ictus. 

To  read  these  verses  (and  all  others  written  in  this  meter) 
correctly,  we  must  give  to  each  the  time  represented  by  the 
scheme : 


Try,  now,  to  read  the  verses  quoted,  placing  a  stress-accent  on 
every  syllable  given  in  heavy  type  (for  they  have  the  word- 
accent),  and,  at  the  same  time,  preserving  to  each  syllable  its 
exact  time.  At  first,  it  is  not  easy  to  do.  For  those  who  have 
not  naturally  a  good  sense  of  time,  as  that  term  is  used  in 
speaking  of  time  in  music,  the  task  is  a  difficult  one.  One  can 
help  himself  much,  and  teachers  can  help  pupils  materially,  at 
first,  by  keeping  time  by  a  downward  and  upward  movement 
of  the  hand  as  in  keeping  time  in  music.  The  downward 
movement  should  represent  (in  this  kind  of  verse)  the  time 
of  the  first  half  of  each  measure,  the  upward  movement  the 
time  of  the  second  half.  This  plan  of  beating  time  would 
be  very  easy  to  execute  if  we  could  place  a  strong  stress  of 
voice  on  the  first  syllable  in  each  measure  so  that  the  downward 
beat  of  the  hand  and  the  word-accent  would  coincide.  But  the 
fact  is  that  the  normal  word-accent  often  falls  on  a  syllable  that 
constitutes  only  half  of  the  last  part  of  the  measure,  as,  for 
instance,  on  ca-  of  cano,  in  the  first  verse,  and  pro-  of  profugus, 
in  the  second.  At  first,  one  will  have  to  give  his  entire  atten- 
tion to  the  words,  as  he  tries  to  read,  and  will  find  it  impossible 
to  regard  the  thought,  too.  Practice,  though,  will  soon  enable 
him  to  carry  both  along  together.  As  soon  as  this  proficiency 
has  been  acquired,  there  should  no  longer  be  a  complete  stop  at 
the  end  of  every  verse,  as  before.     The  reader  should  pass  with 


THE   QUANTITATIVE   READIIS^G  OF  LATIN  VERSE.  27 

only  a  very  slight  pause  from  verse  close  to  verse  beginning,  if 
the  thought  runs  on.  The  placing  of  the  ictus,  the  verse^s 
pulse-beat,  which  in  Dactylic  Hexameter  belongs  to  the  long 
syllable  constituting  the  first  half  of  every  verse-foot,  will 
require  no  special,  no  conscious  effort  on  the  part  of  the  reader. 
Kemember  that  the  ictus-stress  is  not  so  strong  as  Latin  word- 
accent,  which  is  less  strong  than  the  stress-accent  of  English 
words. 

Partly  for  the  reason  that  in  some  secondary  schools  the  Odes 
of  Horace  are  read  and  partly  because  it  seems  appropriate  to 
show  here  how  the  method  of  reading  Latin  poetry  herein  set 
forth  is  precisely  as  applicable  and  satisfactory  when  followed 
with  verse  written  in  other  meters,  verses  from  two  of  the  Odes 
are  here  given  and  commented  on.  Two  of  the  meters  most 
employed  by  Horace  in  his  Odes  are  the  Sapphic  and  the  Alcaic. 
One  stanza  from  a  poem  written  in  the  Sapphic  meter  is  given 
first.  The  first  three  verses  have  the  same  metrical  scheme,  the 
fourth  is  different.     For  each  of  the  first  three,  it  is  : 


For  the  fourth,  it  is  : 


—    O    w         -r   ^ 


Eor.  Odes  I,  32,  vv.  1  to  5— 

Intelger  vi|tae  scele|risque  |  purus 


Non  elget  Maulris  iacu|lis  nelque^arcu 
Nee  ve|nena|tis  gravi|da  sa|gittis, 
Fusee  pha|retra. 

[As  a  rule,  the  monosyllabic  particles  have  not  stress-accent, 
non  and  nee  here  are  emphatic] 

In  verse  of  this  kind,  the  syllable  having  the  ictus  is  the  first 
in  each  measure.  Here,  precisely  as  in  the  Dactylic  Hexameter, 
the  rhythm  is  produced  by  giving  to  every  syllable  its  due  time. 
Note  how  frequently,  in  the  first  three  verses,  the  word-accent 


28  THE  QUANTITATIVE  READING  OF  LATIN  VERSE. 

fails  to  coincide  with  the  ictus.  Stress  all  the  syllables  in  heavy 
type,  for  they  have  the  word-accent,  and  note  that  the  swing  of 
the  verse,  when  the  poetry  is  read  quantitatively,  places  the 
ictus  where  it  belongs. 

Let  us  now  take  one  stanza  written  in  the  Alcaic  meter.  In 
an  Alcaic  stanza  of  four  verses,  three  different  meters  are  em- 
ployed.   The  first  two  verses  have  the  same.    It  is : 

^:r-|7--|T---rTo|r 

The  scheme  for  the  third  is  : 

^  :    r  ^    I    :r  ^   I    7-  -   I    -  « 

The  scheme  for  the  fourth  is  : 


^OUl      ^    \j    %J    I      —vjl      —    W 


mr.  Odes  II,  3,  vv.  1  to  5—       . 

Aequam  me|niento  |  rebus  in  |  ardu|is 

Servare  ]  mentem  |  non  secus  |  in  bo|nis 

Ab  inso|lenti  |  tempejratam 

Laetiti|a  mori|ture  Delli. 

The  entirely  new  feature  in  the  verse  here  is  the  extra  syllable 
which  precedes  each  of  the  first  three  verses,  indicated  in  the 
schemes  by  the  three  dots  placed  after.  Each  of  these  verses  is 
to  be  regarded  as  beginning,  so  far  as  metrical  structure  is  con- 
cerned, with  the  second  syllable.  That  is  why  the  dot  is  placed 
beneath  the  second  syllable,  although  it  is  the  first  syllable  in 
every  measure  that  has  the  ictus.  Note  that  the  last  measure  in 
the  first  and  second  verses  is  not  complete.  Word-accent  and 
ictus  conflict  here  about  as  often  as  they  fall  together.  The 
reading  of  this  kind  of  verse  brings  out  the  rhythm  as  indicated 
by  the  schemes  given.  The  points  to  be  observed  are  precisely 
the  same  as  for  the  two  kinds  of  verse  already  discussed.  And, 
in  short,  for  Latin  verse  of  every  kind,  one  may  follow  satis- 
factorily the  directions  implied  in  the  statement  given  on  page 
9,  in  which  the  author  states  what  he  believes  to  be  involved  in 


THE  QUAJifTITATIVE   READING  OF  LATIN  VERSE.  29 

the  correct  reading  of  Latin  poetry.  For  fear  that  the  reader 
may  erroneously  imagine  that,  in  every  Latin  poem,  the 
syllable  having  ictus  is  the  first  in  every  measure  (since  it  has 
happened  that  such  is  the  case  in  three  kinds  of  verse  shown  in 
the  illustrations  given),  he  is  referred  to  the  scheme  of  the  first 
verse  of  Horace's  second  Epode,  p.  17.  It  is  there  made  clear 
that,  in  verse  of  that  kind,  the  last  syllable  in  each  measure  has 
the  ictus. 

In  conclusion,  it  should  be  said  that  no  written  directions  for 
reading  Latin  poetry  quantitatively  can  help  the  learner  so 
readily  and  so  much  as  the  actual  reading  by  one  who  has 
already,  by  practice,  acquired  some  skill  in  it.  The  teacher 
ought,  therefore,  to  show  his  pupils  how  it  is  to  be  done. 

BOOKS   OF   REFERENCE. 

Every  high-school  library  should  possess  the  following  books, 
which  all  pupils  should  be  encouraged  to  use  : 

"The  Quantitative  Pronunciation  of  Latin'' — William  Gard- 
ner Hale  (School  Eeview,  June,  1898). 

'*  Syllabification  in  Koman  Speech" — William  Gardner  Hale 
(Ginn  &  Co.). 

"The  Metrical  Licenses  of  Vergil"— H.  W.  Johnston  (Scott, 
Foresman  &  Co.). 

"  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Ten,"  (for  the  sounds  of  the 
letters) — (American  Book  Co.). 

Every  pupil  should  have  a  copy  of  Lewis'  "Elementary  Latin 
Dictionary"  (Harper  &  Bros.).  It  is  the  most  trustworthy 
authority  on  quantities  of  vowels. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

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